Reading Too Much Into ‘True Detective’: Details You May Have Missed From ‘If You Have Ghosts’

Welcome to our weekly breakdown of the minutia of Nic Pizzolatto’s True Detective. While Brian Grubb provides his always excellent coverage of the series (here’s his write-up of the most recent episode), here — as we have in the past with Breaking Bad, Mad Men, Better Call Saul, and Mayans M.C. — we will look at some of the details viewers may have missed; references to other shows, movies or books; and theories on particular suspects. We scour Reddit threads, social media, and podcasts in an attempt to curate the best intel about each episode.

The Known Knows

HBO

After five episodes, I do think there are a few facts we can settle on:

— Lucy was definitely involved, or at least aware of what was happening.

— Julie left with someone else before Will was killed.

— Hays killed Officer Harris James.

— Gerald Kindt is helping to cover up the original murderer.

— Hays quit the case (and the force) after speaking with Hoyt in 1990.